On June 16, 2017, owners of Nintendo’s brand new Switch console will be able to get into a new breed of fighting game action called ARMS! This is a new, unique type of fighting game that allows up to four players to battle one another using extendable arms to knock-out opponents in a three-dimensional arena. Players can use their extendable arms, in ARMS, to fire normal punches, launch energized punches, throw their opponent, block attacks, and dodge threats. This can be accomplished using the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con motion controllers as well as standard button input seem with traditional controllers.

The game’s focus on fighting with extendable arms made us think of one very popular character – Monkey D. Luffy from Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece anime/manga series! Luffy’s trademark ability, the one which has helped him save and defend his friends time and again in One Piece, is the ability to stretch and extend his arms. Such an ability and character would mesh perfectly in the world of Nintendo’s ARMS. Kyle Hilliard from GameInformer had the same feeling as us and had the chance to ask ARMS game producer, Kosuke Yabuki, this very question. Yabuki mentioned there will be new characters for free in ARMS, however, none of them would be named Luffy. Our pirate anime/manga hero is not planned for ARMS.

Game Informer: Can you talk about or tease the post-launch plans?
.Yabuki: I can say this as it was shared in the Nintendo Direct that we just had: We do plan to add new characters, arms, and stages for free going forward.
.Game Informer: Can one of those characters be Luffy from One Piece? He seems like he would fit in that universe.
.Yabuki: I guess now that you mention it, Luffy’s arms do extend huh? I didn’t really think of that. But unfortunately, the world of Arms and the world that Luffy lives in are different worlds, so I don’t think he will be in this game.

It would have been nice to see Luffy in ARMS. It was the potential for One Piece fans to get into ARMS, ARMS enthusiasts to get into One Piece, and those who love both to have a stretchy good time with a great game and great character. You can see a trailer for arms and some gameplay of it below!